Connecting

Bursts of myopic but weirdly proud hatred thrive on the Net under the guise of anonymity.
Words are spat out, and, oh, with such venom and total irresponsibility.
Even something as simple and powerless as a poem can touch the nerve of evil to expose an inner darkness.
They will fester in their own ignorance and be destroyed by their poison.
This is one kind of connection, as painful and depressing as it may be.
I have never thought that socializing at parties and dinners produces meaningful connections.
Connection happens when you create something with a musician, dancer, illustrator, someone who is as committed to a form of expression and a way of life as yourself.
I can breathe.
Everything fits.
Everything is going right.
We connect so perfectly with each other in a place where race, gender, age, nationality and other barriers don’t matter.
Maybe there is no listener with whom to connect.
But that doesn’t matter.

Virtual worlds

As though we weren’t busy enough dealing with reality, welcome to the virtual world.
We are about to get a whole range of cyberworlds to live in and do all the things like shopping and meeting people you do in the real world but were probably too busy to get to.
But people will always be people.
The same social ills and cultural differences in the real world seem to be playing out in these second (third, fourth, etc.) lives.
“Meet me” is the Japanese version and so it’s more subdued _ in the same way NTT DoCoMo’s “i-mode” is a more controlled and orderly network on cell phones, including ensuring payment of fees.
The question is: Do Japanese want this?
The popularity of DoCoMo as a carrier is dwindling in Japan, but it’s not because people are fleeing in droves from a regulated universe.
They are defecting to cheaper carriers (belive it or not, unlimited calls aren’t taken for granted here).
Another competition has been music downloads (just as regulated in choices/fees).
“Meet me” is designed to be a hit for Japanese outside the city areas.
If you can’t come out to Harajuku, then jump into “meet me.”
Non-urban Japanese (“chiho”) are the biggest patrons of electronic shopping _ the same target for online worlds.
Similar tendencies are observed for “Second Life.”
New Yorkers, for example, aren’t the biggest fans of “Second Life.”
Not much going on there in Seattle?

Microsoft’s Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 event was video show after video show of games in the works for the machine that’s losing out big time to Nintendo’s Wii and Sony’s PlayStation 3 in Japan.
Japanese gamers like role-playing games and so Microsoft must sign on star game creators to get people to buy the console.
The obvious catch is that these designers would rather make games for machines owned by more people.
But you know what? A lot of these games look the same.
There’s a lot of blood and gore, choice of weapons (knives/swords of all sizes/shapes, etc. ), knights’ armor/the billowy ninja-look.
And the obligatory cast: (1) young male hero (2) sidekick (3) cute female facing off against (1) monsters (2) faceless soldiers.
When you think about it, it’d seem there could be some variety.
Why not a game that takes place in a kitchen (there are knives there as well)?
How are games as a genre going to maintain the momentum for creativity, given the growing competition from entertaiment on the Internet for spending free time without leaving your home?